Quint has a massive interview with Kevin Smith up at AICN right now, and while the topics covered are all over the map, the most interesting bits are at the end, when Smith talks about his potential movie called Red State, a horror film of sorts inspired by extremist pastor Fred Phelps. He describes, essentially, a terribly non-commercial project that has few prospects of even being made, much less finding an audience. The generally good notes for Zack and Miri Make a Porno mean that he’ll probably get to make his space comedy script first, but I’d love to see him buck expectations and go straight for Red State. Whether the movie is any good is immaterial; the very act would be the most interesting thing he’s done since getting Clerks off the ground.
Smith’s statements about Red State are excerpted below; read the whole interview at AICN.
I’m still trying to find money for Red State, though, admittedly, I haven’t been looking that hard yet, since it’s not something I’m gonna get to ’til March the earliest. Early prospects, however, look dim. Problem is, the flick is bleak. Beyond bleak, even. Remember how bleak Dark Knight was? This flick makes the bleakness level in that flick seem Beverly Hills Chihuahua bleak. Sadly, while the flick’s bleaker than Dark Knight, it’s also not nearly as good as Dark Knight. Or as commercial. Or commercial at all, really. The commercial prospects for Red State are not good. The only chance it’ll have at the box office would be if it caught a water cooler-kinda buzz out of a film festival. So when you go down the checklist (overtly bleak, unlikeable characters making horrible decisions, unhappy ending in which everyone dies, a director of questionable talent who’s never worked in this genre before), you can see why folks aren’t whipping out their check books.
The question, then, would be “Why bother?” For some reason, I feel like I’ve gotta make this flick. Part of the reason is that I never really feel like a filmmaker most days; more of a writer who gets to direct his own flicks. Trying my hand at another genre that’s 180 degrees away from anything else I’ve ever done might finally answer the question (for me) of whether or not I truly am a filmmaker, or just the guy who makes the dick and fart jokes movies. I suspect it’s the latter. I guess we’ll see. Maybe.
The flick I wanna do after that is a comedy set in space. Unsurprisingly, it’s been 100% easier to find the money for that one – even with only half the script done. It’ll likely cost about double Zack and Miri’s $24million budget, so it’ll be the most expensive flick I’ve ever made. Hopefully, it’s as well-received as Zack and Miri has been so far.